Sharpening perceptions of reality and providing spiritual guidance for those in the crux of wilderness experiences. Substantial spiritual nourishment for those who know or sense that Christ is anything but shallow. Encouraging readers to radically (which to Christ is normal) serve God and others.
The author is teaching herself and others to read the world through the lens of the gospel and to become active participants in the local and worldwide body of Christ.

Dec 7, 2009

When Despair Grows In Me

“When despair for the world grows in me, and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be -- I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought or grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

Gracious Christians Unite!

Marlena's Words in Other Places ~ click on the links

Read Old Books. They Expand Our Souls.

One excellent way to see how much our culture's passing weather patterns have influenced us is to read old books. If you recieve all your information from contemporary writers, Christian or secular, you will never perceive whole concepts that people in other generations could see. (For example, earlier generations of Christians perceived a power in sexual purity that eludes us completely; we can only fall back on "don'ts"). Every Christian should always have at his bedside at least one book that is at least fifty years old--the older the better.

"To be commanded to love God at all, let alone in the wilderness, is like being commanded to be well when we are sick, to sing for joy when we are dying of thirst, to run when our legs are broken. But this is the first and great commandment nonetheless. Even in the wilderness - especially in the wilderness - you shall love him." —Frederick Buechner

Las Lajas Cathedral

About Me

In seminary, my pastor friends dubbed me a modern-day Christian mystic, a contemplative. I've been called to preach through the pen (or keyboard as technology has it). I've accepted my gifts and hope to nourish readers with the nourishment I've received. I'm married to my soulmate,Shawn. He's a philosophy professor. And I graduated from Northeastern Seminary (a truly great place) with an M.Div. and gave birth to a beautiful human being, my daughter Iliana, almost within the same week. I am a regular contributing writer for Christianity Today's Her.meneutics Blog and a proud member of the Redbud Writers Guild. If you are nourished by what you read, please pass it along to another wilderness traveler.